For new Junior leaders moving up from Brownies to Juniors, the badges can at once seem to be "more of the same" and yet "new and confusing." To start of with, Junior badges are not just try its for older girls. Try Its were so named because all of them are pretty simple to earn and only require that Brownies try some new things. Many are easily earned in the span of one meeting and troops often design their meetings around earning a try it. As such, many Brownie vests are chock full of try its.

In Juniors, however, a couple of things happen. First, the girls are less interested in badge work, at least in my experience. The only badges my girls have been actively interested in pursuing are those that require they go out into the world and explore. Sitting in a meeting while my co-leader and I attempt to feign expertise as we could with try its no longer works. Instead, we have increasingly relied on experts, either bringing the experts to us or taking the girls to the experts.

A second change of note is that some of the badges just cannot be worked on as a troop. These badges require intense individual girl activity and simply must be the earned via independent effort from each girl. The books badge is a good example. Because the badge requires that books be read, this badge cannot be done collectively. Parents therefore become instrumental in encouraging and enforcing the honor system by monitoring the activities of their daughters. One item you may want to develop is a simple badge report sheet that requires the Junior fill in the badge name, list the six activities completed, and obtain a signature from a supervising adult.

There are other nuances to Junior badge work that is not present at the Brownie level. For example, in addition to badges, Juniors may also work on signs, leadership awards, and the bronze award. The badges form the foundation of many of these other awards. Earning specific badges, for example, form some of the core requirements for some of the signs.

Badges are also leveled. In other words, there are "easy" badges and difficult ones. This often-surprising detail is plain to see on any junior vest decorated with badges. Badges with a green background are less time intensive and less in depth. Those with a tan (yellow?) background require much more time to earn and as such are more advanced and require more time to complete.

Perhaps the most important thing about Junior badges, however, is that the girls choose them. In keeping with the goal of going from totally adult led to completely girl led, Juniors is a time when the girls should be selecting activities and/or badges that match their interests.